The Crescent Archipelago! Let The Celebrations Begin!
---- The streets were engrossed with people, the sun was shining, with few select clouds, this day, was almost perfect in Phoenix City, on Mochina Island, an island from the Crescent Archipelago, the children's smiles were wide, as they ran around, playful as anything. "C'mon, you're going to miss on an battle!" a child said, to another child, with a smile so wide you'd swear it was the happiest times ever. As the day progressed, there was a place where activities were most concentrated, a stadium, it was huge, enough to fit almost One million people. With large magic screens, to see the action, if you cannot see the battlefield properly. One man, hulking over the rest, was chuckling softly to himself. "I cannot seem to get enough of this, only every few years, the The Festival of The Phoenix, what wonderous times, mages around the world come to this, just to try and make a name for themselves. Nuk nuk nuk..." he chuckled. "I love these times, it feels as if the entire Archipelago has been reborn." he nodded, with pride. The man was from Dragon Sword Island. This man's name is Ishikawa. The people around Ishikawa were smiling, and happy. It was indeed, a great day for Mochina Island. Ishikawa, for once, looked untroubled, and nothing was bothering him, even though a few months ago, the King was attacked, but he was back on his feet. He was relieved for this. His eyes glistened in the light, while he was watching the undergoing battle, taking place before him. The battle Ishikawa was watching involved Tao "Dark Storm" Hotaru the doppleganger and equal to Markus Hotaru a well known and vastly dangerous mage. Tao's opponant was a man from Drake-Bane Island armed with a gigantic cleaver and clad in heavy plate, the two men were fighing hard with Tao darting around his opponant in almost a taunting manner while landing powerful blows at speeds that many couldn't keep up with. Eventually after 5 more minutes of fighting Tao's opponant was beaten and the home crowd cheered so loudly that no-one could hear the announcer state the victory. "Impressive isn't he?" Said a voice behind Ishikawa. "You can see why he's my guild's ace and one of this island's greatest mages." Ishikawa looked back, with a glare "I was wondering when you'd come out to talk. You like following people around?" he asked, with a toothy smile, he went in for a hug. "I've never seen you in forever, how're you Old Friend?" he asked. If they hugged, he would've squeezed kind of hard, enough to pop the head off a normal person's head. Markus vanished in a small flash of lightning, and reappeared behind Ishi. "No, I was actually keeping an eye for cultists of the Dark Gods....Just happened to see you walk by." Said Markus giving the guild sign to Tao who let out a massive Phoenix Scream into the air before appearing on he ledge in front of Markus. "Good job Tao.....How good was he it looked easy for ya." "If he didn't wear that armour he'd do a lot better....Slowed him down far too much." Said Tao sitting on the wall and looking at Ishi. "That the Giant of Dragon Sword?" "Yep, he's an old friend." Said Markus smirking looking back. "So Ishi, you fighting during the tournament?" "It is quite hard to miss me, isn't it?" he bellowed. He looked at Tao, sizing him up. "I'd like to fight, but I have no one to warm up against. Unless you... Mister... Tao was it?" he gave an innocent smile. He looked to Markus, to see what he thought. Tao vanished into the arena and gestured for Ishi to come at him. "Well you heard him Ishi... go get him." Smirked Markus leaning on the wall and grabbing a drink. "I'm curious to see how you match my clone." Ishikawa raised an eyebrow, not only does this clone of Markus gesture him on, but also has the same skills as Markus. He chuckled to himself, before appearing in the arena. With a smile, he looked to the announcer. "You're in for a match of a lifetime." he said, with a prideful tone. He sticks up his thumb, then looks to Tao. "Tao, I, Ishikawa Haruhiro, shall be the first to say, it will be an honour to spar with you." he bowed slightly, keeping a keen eye on him. Tao just grinned as his armour and mask re-equipped onto his body. His lightning ran across his body and suddenly Ishi felt a sudden smack into the back of his head. Ishikawa took his axe from off his back, with a smile, he looks around the battlefeild, he activates Flash Raven, time perception slowed down, now, he'd be able to see Tao as he moved, in almost slow motion. "Difficulty level, one." he stated, his face now changing into a more serious mood. As Ishi did that Tao vanished even with flash raven activated the wild mage disappeared. He then appeared behind Ishi looking slightly different with gold feathers in his forearms and lightning jumping all over him like the wildest storm. "Nice try, now try this!!...STORM PHOENIX GRAND SCREAM!!!!" He said before unleashing a beam of pure white lightning aimed directly at Ishi before landing and being suddenly coated in ice. "STORM PHOENIX SECRET ART, REVISION: RAIJIN'S FROZEN SPEAR!!!" He then threw a spear made of ice coated in white lightning which exploded meeting the beam almost at the same time exploding and freezing the area as well. Ishikawa tilted his head, as this attack came in almost slow motion. Ishikawa whistled "Pretty fast attacks." he said, acknowledging him. He pointed his finger, a small sphere of Solar God Slayer Magic began to form, then shot off, whilst using Titanic Compression, it amplified itself, even enough to counter the Spear and Scream, with a small amount of difficulty. "Hmmm..." This Kid, even though he is a clone, he is quite a combatant. I like this kid. He gave a toothy smile, then began to compress magic power in his mouth. He began to talk while doing this. "I hope you can run fast." Ishikawa said, in a rather sarcastic tone, a smirk painted on his face. Dark smirked as he barely dodged the attack landing and gesture for him to try. "Come at me old man...I'm not even trying yet." Said Tao as he squatted down rather confidently. Ishikawa was behind Tao in an instant, then smacked him in the back of the head. "Learn respect." he muttered to him. Ishi suddenly felt and explosion of magical power and saw Tao change forms again this time covered in feather like markings and both white and red lightning danced across his body. "Let me show you hell!!" Shouted Tao as he landed a brutal back kick to Ishi's stomach easily knocking the wind out of him before vanishing and unloading a series of martial arts techniques. "I have on good authority that this combo is called Rhythm of the Jade Tiger!!" Said the announcer as Dark unloaded a series of animistic yet acrobatic kicks, claws and various other strikes across Ishi. "Tao looks like he's let his rage do it's job!" In mid-flurry, he had enough, he grabbed a hold of Tao's neck, stopping him. Then slammed him down a few times on the ground, causing the ground to crack. He put Tao face to face with him. Then opened his mouth. A magic circle appeared in front of his mouth. "Solar God's Bellow." before unleashing one of the most powerful bellows he ever had, even though the Lightning was doing significant damage, the sun was healing him faster than what the lightning was actually damaging him. The Bellow shot up into the air, as he was able to control it, then let go of Tao, he punched Tao in the stomach, easily knocking the wind out of him, and maybe hard enough to cause him to spit out some blood. He then took Tao's head, squeezing, then slamming him down into the ground again, another crack, the bellow was doing a spiral down towards the earth, as Ishikawa picked Tao up, kicking him in the jaw, up towards the bellow, the bellow cocooned around Tao, trying to keep him in place, as Ishikawa activated his Ring Breaker. He made rings go around the cocoon, he only used a small percentage of his power to make it explode, but, not enough to kill, just enough to try and knock Tao out. Tao's lifeless body fell to the ground as the dust cleared but as the crowd waited to see what happened to Tao they heard a evil and dark laugh followed by a massive magical aura coming form Dark who was already standing and in a totally new form. "Phoneix Ascendance....." Dark charged forward far faster than Ishi had seen before almost to the point where he can't even keep up. Unleashing a barrage of strikes mixed with attacks of raw magical power. Ishikawa began to take the blows, smiling of course. The attacks hurt, but his body was healing at such a rate, it would be gone by the time his fists left him, but the pain, it still hurt Ishikawa, he winced at each punch. He stomped upon the ground, cracks began to form. Then, then Earth beneath them began to shake, hopefully slowing Tao down. If I can get past Phoenix Ascendance, then he is a goner. ''Ishikawa takes his axe, then slams it into the ground, The ground quaked further, and began to open up. Ishikawa jumped high into the air, compressing magic power into his fists. Tao did the same and launched himself at Ishi to counter his attack. While he lept up though he threw a saw blade of concentrated magical power at Ishi's arm. "Oh boy this could end badly for one of them." Smirked Markus finishing his snack and going down to the arena tunnel. Ishikawa released the magic power in his left fist, beginning to spin around, faster and faster. As he was going downwards, and the increasing speed of spinning, he turned the magic power into solar god slayer magic. "'SOLAR GOD FIST!" he bellowed out, then using all the kinetic energy from the spinning, and inertia from it, he punched Tao in the face, so hard in fact, it caused a mighty explosion, hopefully... Ending the match. "'''PHOENIX DESTRUCTION WAVE!!!!" Shouted Tao from the smoke as a massive beam of raw magical energy that struck Ishi at close range and carved a trench into the area. Tao stood there as his face regenerated from he damage but he still dropped to one knee and raised a hand in defeat. "Damn that f*cking hurt...." Ishikawa was behind Tao, with a finger pointed to his head, Ishikawa has only sustained minor injuries. "You raised a hand, that means you admit defeat, correct?" he asked, in a worried tone. "Your last attack, it was good. It would've done more damage if I never fled. I am impressed." he smiled. "If you are wondering how I got out of that, I used my Flash Raven to get away just in time." Ishikawa's injuries began to heal over. "What a wonderful warm-up. I have even broke a sweat that time, thank you, Tao-San!" Ishikawa bellowed a low laugh, his stomach puffing out with each breath. "You sure have durability! Ohko ohko ohko!" he laughed. "Looks like we have a winner!" the announcer said, as the stadium began to roar with applause, screams of fans, and squeals of excited children. Tao just smirks and walks off. "You got worse coming old man...." He said as his wounds fully healed and his clothing returned to normal. "Now Ishi" Said Markus standing behind Ishi. "As you obviously have the advantage here with the sun shining down on you i must request we hold a special battle. "To try and balance the fight a tad." "What is this request?" he asked, in wonderment, one eyebrow raised. The arena suddenly becomes heavily shaded blocking a large potion of the sun's rays. "This is the request...You obviously have the advantage while the sun is dominant and i doubt you'd want to wait till night time for our match....Besides this'll make it more of a challenge for you anyway and there for far more fun." Said Markus standing in the centre of the arena oddly relaxed. Ishikawa cleared his throat. "Well, you have slight advantages over me, since you are able to die about... Thrice? Then come back, but I do like a challenge. So, I accept this challenge." he smiled, his magic aura exploding, making the air around them seem as if it was shaking, the very ground quaked beneath them, and behind Ishikawa, was a presence similar to a deity of great power. He stood there, looking at Markus. "Shall we begin?" MArkus chuckled as his Magical Aura came out but instead of the usual effect of a flame his appeared to be similar to a storm coming from his own body cutting through the ground around him as his armour appeared and he took a fighting stance. "Yes lets...." Ishikawa was behind Markus, giving him a firm shove to the back, hopefully sending him over to the other way, as he left a collumn of magic circles. "Ring Breaker: Pillar of Destruction." he stated with a bored tone, as it began to explode violently in the magic circles. Ishi suddenly felt feet on both his shoulder. "Your a bit slow old man.....Gotta be faster than that." Said Markus who then landed a quick yet powerful axe kick to his face. Before flipping forward and unleashing a pair of small lightning bolts at his face. He then darted around the arena at high speed launching more bolts from all around while creating copies of himself. "Oh my Markus seems to be using Ghost Walking Technique 4!! Will Ishi be able to find the real Markus in this blinding display of speed?!?!" Said the announcer as MArkus continued to dance around Ishi. Ishikawa's nose was broken, he grunted when the kick connected with his face, as for the two lightning bolts, he simply moved his head, side to side to avoid them, the AoE from the bolts gave him a small shock, he was on his feet, looking at the copies, the bolts only coming from one source. "THERE!" he sped over towards the real Markus, punching him in the jaw, to hopefully stop the copies, and him. The one he attacked was a copy and the real Markus chuckles as he kept moving around, then a barrage of lightning came from all around Ishi striking him all over. Ishikawa was at least, annoyed with Markus' Ghost Walking Technique 4, simply because he just thought he spotted the real Markus, but it turned out to be a copy, he was losing his touch. The lightning bolts struck him, he was sent flying in a twisted spasm. As he slammed into the side of the arena, there was a loud crack, and the arena shook. Ishikawa coughed up a little blood, as he shook his head, taking a long, deep breath. He looked at the copies, then exhaled, he was concentrating magic power into his lungs, for his Godly Bellow. As he inhaled again, it took about a second to charge up his attack, as he exhaled, a terrible screech emitted from him, with so much magic power, that the air around him was swirling in pools of it. "LIGHT GOD BELLOW" the screech was definite, he was trying as of now - playing around with Markus, simply will not cut it. As soon as the trail of light exited his mouth, he disappeared faster than the blink of an eye. The bellow seemed to be locked onto the real Markus, since the Magic power differential allowed Ishikawa to hunt down the actual Markus. Ishikawa seemingly appeared beside Markus, with a formed fist, he struck the ground; the results - catastrophic. The arena began to shake, and crack, hopefully Markus' footing would've been off for a split second, more than long enough for the bellow to actually hit him, and do some damage. However Markus' fighting style was built on adapting as fast as possible, which for him was lightning fast, he did take some damage from the attack but it was almost fully healed by the time he reappeared standing infront of Ishi his Storm Drive active and a sword in one hand. "Now we're getting somewhere.....Real fun." Said MArkus taking a stance with the sword constantly moving waiting from the next attack. "Now old friend lets see if a Phoenix Slayer can truely match a God Slayer." "You may be lightning fast, Markus-Chan, but you'll never be as fast as light." The truth is, I have the advantage over agility, defence and power, but his damned regenitive powers make us an even match... ''Ishikawa grinned, his eyes showing that he is loving this battle so far. He stretched his arm outwards, then inhaled sharply. He used Titanic Compression to enhance his defence tenfold, then activated his Flash Raven increasing his agility; as of now, in defence, offensive power, and agility, Ishikawa outclassed Markus. He flared his magic aura, it was monsterous, the people in the stands began to almost black out, from the frightening power. He then pointed his finger at Markus, a small ball of Photon Magic formed, then shot towards him. It was fast, too fast for Markus to track, but if his eyes were keen enough, he could avoid the ball of magic - avoiding being paralyzed for a few seconds. Markus took the hit but as the impact disapated and markus became paralized several more Markus appeared around Ishi all stating at the same time. "'Storm Phoenix Armory: Legion'."' '''They all walked towards Ishi and surrounded him, still talking in unison. "This spell is quite useful against enemies faster than me....Along with a couple of other spells i have in reserve." Ishikawa assessed the situation, smiling. "Goohoo-goohoo-hoogoo!" he bellowed out. "You've grown so much, Markus-Chan - Times flies, old friend." he nodded, still bellowing. He then pointed to the ground, a ring breaker circle, encircled them all, then it stretched upwards, into a pillar like shape. "Ring Breaker, Pillar of Destruction." this time, different than the other times, the explosion started from by Ishikawa, he dashed backwards, ramming into a Markus, trying to avoid the explosion itself.